Urban plants and climate drive unique arthropod interactions with unpredictable consequences

Dale, Adam G.; Frank, Steven D.

doi:10.1016/j.cois.2018.06.001

Cited by 58 publications

(41 citation statements)

References 76 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Yet, we found mixed effects of herbaceous plant species richness in regard to crop disease damage, supporting the argument that increasing plant diversity to mitigate pest impacts is not a straightforward management guideline in urban environments (Dale and Frank ). Both powdery mildew and tomato wilt at the garden scale were more prevalent in gardens with more herbaceous plant species.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 83%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Plant damage in urban agroecosystems varies with local and landscape factors

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Citation: Egerer, M., H. Liere, A. Lucatero, and S. M. Philpott. 2020. Plant damage in urban agroecosystems varies with local and landscape factors. Ecosphere 11(3):Abstract. Biotic and abiotic factors at local to landscape scales influence insect pest and disease dynamics in agricultural systems. However, relative to studies focused on the importance of these drivers of crop plant damage in rural agricultural systems, few studies investigate plant damage from herbivore insects and plant diseases in urban agroecosystems, and consequently, most urban farmers lack knowledge on crop protection tactics. Here we use three common crop species within urban agroecosystems (community gardens) distributed across an urban landscape as a model system to ask how local, landscape, and microclimate factors relate to herbivore and disease plant damage. We hypothesized that plant damage would be lower in gardens with greater local vegetation complexity, landscape-scale complexity, and less variable temperatures, but that the importance of factors is species-and damage-specific. By measuring Brassica, cucurbit, and tomato insect pest and disease damage across the growing season, we confirmed that the importance of factors varies with crop species and by damage type. Both local complexity factors (e.g., number of trees and shrubs) and landscape complexity (percent natural cover in the landscape) relate to lower incidence of herbivore and disease damage on some crops, supporting our prediction that habitat heterogeneity at both local and landscape scales lowers plant damage. Greater temperature variability related to higher disease damage on tomatoes linking microclimate factors to disease prevalence. Yet, local complexity factors also related to higher incidence of plant damage for other crop species, indicating variable species-level impacts of local management factors on plant damage. By measuring the abundance of fungus-feeding lady beetles (Psyllobora) on cucurbits, we confirmed a strong association between natural enemies and powdery mildew. We provide a case study on how changes in local to landscape-scale factors relate to plant damage in urban agroecosystems and suggest how urban farmers and gardeners can apply this ecological knowledge to improve sustainable urban food production.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 83%

“…In sum, our results further exemplify the complex, often non‐linear relationships between ecological factors, herbivores, and herbivory in urban environments (Raupp et al. , Dale and Frank ).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 79%

Plant damage in urban agroecosystems varies with local and landscape factors

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…This work adds to a small literature Hughes 2005a, Kozlov et al 2015) that specifically examines latitudinal patterns of sap-feeding insect herbivory. Latitude-herbivory patterns are among the most studied in ecology and, while still an area of debate, strong patterns have been identified across study locations and systems Hughes 2005b, Salazar andMarquis 2012); the relevance of these and other patterns to human-dominated systems is largely unknown (Dale and Frank 2018). Our predictions sourced from patterns found in natural areas were unable to predict the herbivore abundance patterns for these sap-feeding insects on A. rubrum across the latitudes occupied by our eight study cities.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Urbanization drives unique latitudinal patterns of insect herbivory and tree condition

Just

Dale

Long

et al. 2019

Oikos

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Urban landscapes are characterized by high proportions of impervious surface resulting in higher temperatures than adjacent natural landscapes. In some cities, like those at cooler latitudes, trees may benefit from warmer urban temperatures, but trees in many cities are beset with problems like drought stress and increased herbivory. What drives patterns of urban tree health across urbanization and latitudinal temperature gradients? In natural systems, latitude–herbivory relationships are well‐studied, and recent temperate studies have shown that herbivory generally increases with decreasing latitudes (warmer temperatures). However, the applicability of this latitude–herbivory theory in already‐warmed urban systems is unknown. In this study, we investigated how the interaction of urbanization, latitudinal warming and scale insect abundance affected urban tree health. We predicted that trees in warmer, lower latitude cities would be in poorer health at lower levels of urbanization than trees at cooler, higher latitudes due to the interaction of urbanization, latitudinal temperature and herbivory. To evaluate our predictions, we surveyed the abundance of scale insect herbivores on a single, common tree species Acer rubrum in eight US cities spanning 10° of latitude. We estimated urbanization at two extents, a local one that accounted for the direct effects on an individual tree, and a larger one that captured the surrounding urban landscape. We found that urban tree health did not vary with latitudinal temperature but was best predicted by local urbanization and herbivore abundance. We did not observe increased herbivore abundance in warmer, lower latitudes cities, but instead herbivore abundance peaked in the mid latitudes of our study. This study demonstrates that urban landscapes may deviate from classical theory developed in natural systems and reinforces the need for research reconciling ecological patterns in urban landscapes.

show abstract

“…, Meineke et al. , Dale and Frank ), which can ultimately affect local community assembly (Shochat et al. , McGlynn et al.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Local‐ and landscape‐scale variables shape insect diversity in an urban biodiversity hot spot

Adams

Bahlai

et al. 2020

Ecological Applications

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Brown. 2020. Localand landscape-scale variables shape insect diversity in an urban biodiversity hot spot. Ecological Applications 30(4):Abstract. Local community structure is shaped by processes acting at local and landscape scales. The relative importance of drivers operating across different spatial scales is difficult to test without observations across regional or latitudinal gradients. Cities exhibit strong but predictable environmental gradients overlaying a mosaic of highly variable but repeated habitat types within a constrained area. Thus, cities present a unique opportunity to explore how both local and landscape factors influence local biotic communities. We used insect communities to examine the interactions among local environmental variables (such as temperature and relative humidity), local habitat characteristics (such as plant community composition), and broad-scale patterns of urbanization (including biophysical, human-built, and socioeconomic variables) on local insect abundance, species richness, and species composition in Los Angeles, a hot, dry, near-desert city. After accounting for seasonal trends, insect species richness and abundance were highest in drier and hotter sites, but the magnitude of local environmental effects varied with the degree of urbanization. In contrast, insect species composition was best predicted by broad-scale urbanization trends, with the more native communities occurring in less urbanized sites and more cosmopolitan insects occurring in highly urbanized sites. However, insect species richness and abundance were >30% higher and insect composition was similar across sites that hosted either native or drought-tolerant plants, regardless of the degree of urbanization. These results demonstrate that urban insect biodiversity is a product of interacting mechanisms working at both local and landscape scales. However, local-scale changes to urban habitats, such as cultivating plants that are adapted to the natural environment nearest the city, can positively impact urban biodiversity regardless of location.

show abstract

Urban plants and climate drive unique arthropod interactions with unpredictable consequences

Cited by 58 publications

References 76 publications

Plant damage in urban agroecosystems varies with local and landscape factors

Plant damage in urban agroecosystems varies with local and landscape factors

Urbanization drives unique latitudinal patterns of insect herbivory and tree condition

Local‐ and landscape‐scale variables shape insect diversity in an urban biodiversity hot spot

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About